Japan in Australia’s 2016 Defence White Paper

Australia’s security cooperation with Japan has deepened since 2013, when the Abbott Government came to power. Australia and Japan have signed three high-level agreements on defence logistics, information sharing and science and technology, namely the Japan-Australia Acquisition and Cross-servicing Agreement, the Japan-Australia Information Security Agreement, and the Japan-Australia Transfer of Defence Equipment and Technology Agreement. The two countries have also stepped up their joint participation in military training exercises, and have used bilateral, trilateral and multilateral regional forums to air coordinated language about regional security issues. And Japan remains the most prominent—if no longer the only—country bidding for Australia’s future submarine project.